Beverage container



July 2, 1940. c. F. WALLACE I 2,206,830

BEVERAGE CONTAINER Filed Dec. 7, 1957 I Gig/flu QINVENTOR A4. ATTORNEYPatented July 2, 1940 I BEVERAGE CONTAINER CharlesF. Wallace, Westfield,N; J., assignor to Novadel-Agene Corporation, Belleville, N. J., a

corporation of Delaware 2 Claims. This invention relatesto beveragecontainers, and moreparticularly to shipping and dispensing containers.of, the kind shown and described i in the Schulse U. S. Patent No.2,051,013, thatf'is,

- containers havingpermanently installed therein a conduit for thecirculation of a cooling fluid for cooling the containedtbeveragepreparatory to and: ,during the, dispensing of the beverage, and,

if ;,desired,-during storage;

til

("The ,1 inventionaims. to provide an improved shipping, coolinganddispensing container of the kind and having the advantages of thecontainer shown in the. schulse patent, and having the additional.advantage that the possibility of displacement,.of=the coil..or:offailure of the tubeby either transverse. breakingor. by splitting isre.- duced, permitting the coil tube to be madeof less expensivematerial without reducing its usefullife.

@Mllosthese ends I shapie the tube torming the coolingmfiuid .conduit to.form two coils which un der pressure therein tend to unwind in the samedireetionyan open bend; or loop connecting one.

end of the coils, and two spaced supporting legs each extending from theother end of one of the coils. The supporting legs are thus bothrelatively short since each of them comes from the top of a coil and notone from the top and one from the bottom as with the single coil of thecontainer shown in the Schulse patent. Most desirably, the coil tube isshaped in the form of a. double helix consisting of two concentric coilsconnected from opposite sides of the coils by an S, or reverse, bend,the tube Winding in a downward direction from one supporting leg towardthe bottom of the keg or other container, then forming a reverse bend,and then winding in a reverse direction upward, and the other supporting leg extending from the top of this second coil. The two coils thuswind in the same direction from the supporting legs downward, or fromthe reverse bend upward.

By eliminating the long supporting leg, the greater stress or bendingmoment at and near the point of support of such long leg at the head orwall of the keg due to the greater leverage is avoided; and if liquid ispermitted to freeze in the coils of an empty container, the tendency tounwind due to the expansion of the liquid as it freezes is equal and inthe same circumferential direction in the two coils, and as the lowerends of the coils are free to make such movement there is no suchstress-developing resistance as in the case of a coil restrained at bothends. When the connecting bend is a reverse bend ex- ,..'ApplicationDecember 7, 1937, Serial No. 178,476

tending fromopposite sides of the coils, it will ing a sharp bend inthe. tube.

Another advantage of the invention is that after the coiled tube isattached to a container wall the coils may be stretched out axially tolengthen themor pressed together to shorten them. A keg head having thedouble coil tube mountedthereon may thus be used in kegs of somewhatdifierent depth, the coils being readily lengthened orl shortened as maybe necessary or desirable,

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawin inwhich Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a wooden beer keg equippedwith a double helix coil according to the invention, the coil beingshown in elevation; and

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the coil. Referring to the drawing, Fig.1 shows a wooden beer keg Hi having its upperhead H provided with theusual draft bung l2, and having the usual filling bung I3 in the sidewall of the keg midway between the upper and lower heads.

Mounted within the keg is a cooling conduit formed by a tube of suitablemetal or other suitable heat-conductive material shaped to provide twospaced supporting legs in and 2! and two helical coils, one, 22, windingdownward from the leg 20 and the other, 23, winding downward in the samedirection from the leg 2 i, and the lower ends of the two coils beingconnected from opposite sides of the coils by a reverse bend 25. Thecoils are, most desirably and as shown, of substantially the samediameter with the same number of turns and having turns of eachextending between. turns of the other and spaced apart. The coils arepermanently installed in, or built into. the keg by having the twosupporting legs and M secured to fittings, or adaptors, 2B and. 2'! setin openings in the keg wall, most desirably, and as shown, in the upperhead I! one on each of the draft outlet in a diametrical plane at rightangles to the axis of the filling bung. Any suitable connecting meansmay be provided for connecting the outer ends of the supporting legs tothe keg wall to securely hold the leg ends and to provide for connectionthereto of means, such as the branch connections from the cooling fluidmains of the circulating system of the Schulse Patent 2,051,013, for thesupply and return of the cooling fluid. As shown, the adaptors to whichthe leg ends are connected are formed by bushings secured in openings inthe keg head by threaded collars or. nuts 28 which also serve to receivethreaded connections of the cooling fluid supply and return lines. Theends of the two legs 20 and 2! extend into the adaptor bushings and areexpanded or otherwise secured therein.

The coils, supporting legs and reverse bend of the cooling conduit aremost desirably made from a single piece of tubing of a suitable strongmetal, such as certain copper alloys coated on the outside with silveror tin, and of suitable size and wall thickness and length to have thenecessary strength and to provide the required amount of coolingsurface. The coils should, most desirably, be positioned in the lowerhalf of -the con- ,tainer in order that the major cooling area shallbenear thebottom of the container, from where thebeverage is drawn, andin a shipping keg such. as shown the coils should bebelow the fillinghung in order to avoid interference with the conventional filling orracking tube. With the supporting legs 20 and 2| connected to the upperkeg head in a diametrical plane at right angles to the axis of thefilling bung, as shown, there will be no interference with the rackingtube by the supporting legs. With the coils and supporting legs arrangedas shown there will also be no interinserted ference with the usualdraft tube through the draft hung in the top head of the keg, and inorder that the draft tube may extend clearto the bottom head, thereverse bend of the cooling conduit is set off to one side of thecenter.

The size and length of the tube forming the circulated through theconduit. For wooden beer kegs of the conventional size of15 gallonscapacity, for use in a cooling system in which the cooling fluid iswater at a temperature close to the freezing point, entirelysatisfactory results have been obtained with the conduit made of silverplated copper alloy tubing having an outer diameter of inch and a wallthickness of .042 inch, and a total length of somewhat over 14 feet.

What is claimed is:

1. A shipping, cooling and dispensing beverage container, having as apermanent part thereof a coiled tube of heat-conductive material mountedtherein for the circulation of a cooling fluid for cooling containedbeverage, in which the cooling fluid tube is shaped to form two helicalcoils connected at one end by an open reverse bend and winding both inthe same direction from the connecting reverse bend and two spacedsupporting legs of substantially equal length extending one from theother end of each of the coils and from opposite sides of the coils, theouter ends of said legs being'secured at spaced points to a wall of thecontainer to support the coils and to provide inlet and outlet terminalsfor admission and discharge of the cooling fluid.

2. A shipping, cooling and dispensing beverage container, having as 'apermanent part thereof a coiled tube of heat-conductive material mountedtherein for the circulation of a cooling fluid for cooling containedbeverage, in which the cooling fluid tube is shaped to form twoconcentric helical coils of the same pitch and diameter connected attheir lower ends by an open reve'rse bend and winding upward both in thesame direction and two spaced supporting legs of substantially equallength extending upward one from the upper end of each of the coils andfrom opposite sides of the'co'ils, the upper ends of said legs beingsecured at spaced points to a wall of the container near the top thereofto support the'coils and to provide inlet and outlet terminals foradmission and discharge of the cooling fluid.

CHARLES F. WALLACE.

